Professor Lindsey MacMillan, University College London

"Occupational hazard: Inequalities in labour market mismatch"
Wednesday, 29 November. 3 pm
Room 253, Gilbert Scott Building

Abstract

In this paper we provide a new metric and framework to describe the extent of occupational mismatch in a labor market. We do so by constructing a single dimensional continuous measure of ability for individuals, and two distinct measures of occupational quality. This allows us to examine the extent to which young people mismatch into occupations that are higher or lower ranked than they could achieve and explore whether there are systematic differences in the nature of match by key demographics, including socio-economic status (SES) and gender. We find inefficiencies in the match between young peoples’ achievement ranking and their occupation ranking, and large socio-economic inequalities in education-based and earnings-based match, across the achievement distribution. We also find large gender gaps in earnings-based match, with women working in jobs that are significantly lower ranked than their male counterparts, but similarly ranked in terms of education-based match. While educational routes between compulsory education and occupations at age 25 can explain around 33% of these SES gaps among high achievers, a sizeable difference in undermatch remains for high achieving low SES students (8 percentiles), when taking into account all post-16 activity. The gender gap in mismatch remains stable, suggesting that education choices are not responsible for the large differences observed between men and women. Instead, the type of industry worked in can account for almost 76% of the gender gap among low achievers, although a significant difference still remains between men and women.

Bio

Lindsey is the Founding Director of the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) at UCL, creating new research to inform evidence-led education policy and wider practice to equalise opportunities across the life course. She is also a Research Fellow in the Education and Skills sector at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at London School of Economics. Lindsey is Treasurer of the Scottish Economic Society Council, and Co-Editor of Education Economics. After completing her PhD at the Department of Economics, University of Bristol, Lindsey spent a year at Harvard Kennedy School as a post-doc, before joining IOE as a lecturer in 2012. Lindsey's research considers the role of early skills, education, and labour market experience in the transmission of incomes and work across generations. She has published widely in leading journals in Economics, including Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Human Resources, and the Economic Journal.

For further information, please contact business-school-research@glasgow.ac.uk

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First published: 30 October 2023

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